Kyiv proposes to end stand-off in Mariupol

Bloomberg

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are preparing to visit Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed accelerated weapons supplies that he said could help Ukraine step up its counteroffensive, and said the Americans “should not come here with empty hands.”
Russia said it struck a “large consignment” of foreign weapons in Odesa on the Black Sea coast. The missile attack killed eight people and wounded 18, Zelenskiy said. Air strikes continue on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where some 2,000 Ukrainian fighters are holding on. Turkey closed its airspace to Russian jets flying to Syria, a significant shift in policy aimed at increasing the cost of the war in Ukraine for President Vladimir Putin.
Germany’s opposition leader threatened to block plans to
borrow 100 billion euros ($108 billion) to modernise the Bundeswehr. For the CDU to agree, Germany would have to permanently spend more than 2% of gross domestic product on defense and present repayment plan for the new debt, party leader Friedrich Merz told Bild am Sonntag.
According to the newspaper, the Chancellery in Berlin is considering asking parliament to approve the special fund for the army without an attached economic plan and a concrete list of planned arms purchases.
Separately, Bild am Sonntag reported that Germany will spend about 5 billion euros to buy 60 CH-47F Chinooks from Boeing Co to replace some of its 50-year-old transport helicopters. The United Nations crisis coordinator called for an “immediate stop” to fighting in Mariupol and the evacuation of trapped citizens. “They must be allowed to safely evacuate now, today. Tomorrow could be too late,” Amin Awad said, according to Agence France Press. Kyiv has proposed three steps to end the stand-off in Mariupol, which Russia said it now has complete control over, apart from the Azovstal steelworks where Ukrainian fighters and civilians are sheltering.
Mykhailo Podolyak, chief negotiator with Russia, called for a “real” truce around the Orthodox Easter period; the immediate provisions of humanitarian corridors; and a special round of talks focused on troop swaps.